1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to toys in general, and more particularly to a toy vehicle capable of changing its appearance as a function of its direction of movement.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already known various construction of toys, among them such that are provided with wheels and resemble cars, trucks or other land vehicles in appearance. Toys like that are very popular, but toys that are basically toy vehicles, but pretend that they are not, are even more appealing to a segment of the population interested in purchasing toys, be it children of tender years or their parents.
To satisfy the desire for toy vehicles of this kind, it has been proposed, for instance, in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,267,888 to Hippely, et al., 5,292,275 to Swisher, et al., and 5,334,078 to Hippely, et al., to give the toys the outward appearance of toy vehicles, but to provide them with menacing teeth that are revealed when a part of the toy vehicle that substitutes for a mouth is raised or lowered.
All of these previously proposed arrangements have one undesirable thing in common, though; namely, the revelation of the teeth and/or other actions, such as the issuance of growling noises, evidently result from an overt act, namely, from a manual lifting of the toy vehicle, or manipulation of a lever. While there may be some element of surprise, and the overt act is usually performed at a location that is remote from that at which the desired effect is to take place, the causal connection between the overt act and the menacing effect can be overlooked by only the most gullible of the audience and, hence, the very purpose of making this "covert menace" transformable toy vehicle in the manner as designed is, all but, defeated.